110 Shaky Friendships

After I finally learned about who the Order's target was, I knew Joren and I weren't safe. We were currently standing around a completely trashed room; a room owned, in fact, by that very target. If Zepherin or Leila or even Assassin Vincentus were to enter through the door right now, I wouldn't know what to do.

"We have to leave," I told him drily.

Still panicked, the redhead simply nodded in agreement. And with that, we were off to the night. Joren simply followed me, and didn't even question how I had somehow accessed the ways to the dormitory rooftops. I sat on the tiled roof, waiting for Joren to slide down beside me.

"So, why did you suddenly decide to attack the professor's study?" I asked after a short silence.

He looked down in shame. "... I'm not sure. I looked 'round for anythin'... anythin' to prove he's a bad man, and I, I knew he's your mentor, and ya look up to him, so I..."

I sighed. "That was idiotic. You didn't need to do that at all. If you were just curious, or if you just acted out of stupid loyalty towards me, then-"

"That's not it at all, Therion," he denied, and then stared out towards the Forests of Elara. "To be honest, I dunno why I did that... I just feel so uneasy these days. I had... I had to do something. So when I thought about ya being the target's student, I just... I know it's wrong o' me to use ya as some kind of excuse, but..."

"I... I just think that we became part of some things that we shouldn't have been a part of, you know?" I said, relishing in the cold, night wind. "Your mother, my teacher... I know it's hard, and much harder for you than it is for me, but..."

I took hold of his hand and gripped it tightly. "But it doesn't mean that we should act rashly. Aunt Tabitha wouldn't want you punished because of acting out of impulse, even if it was done for her or because of her."

After a moment, he nodded silently. "I-I get it, Therion. I admit I was... foolish, but..."

I looked at him more closely. "What is it?"

"I did see somethin'..." he murmured. "A letter. Well, an envelope, really. T'was already empty when I found it in the trash, but..."

I waited for him impatiently, although I did my best to hide it.

Then, he said, "It had the Empire's royal seal on it."

~~

To tell him would be to betray the Order.

To not tell him...

"Eleftherion?" a woman's voice called out to me.

Looking up, I saw the man's wife, looking so much like the mother-figure I had already lost long ago.

"Yes, Nurse Melinda?" I asked, my voice coming off weak.

I was now seated at the nurse's corner of the infirmary. It was currently breaktime, and I had often found myself coming here, if only to avoid Joren or simply to avoid basic social interaction. The nurse herself was awfully understanding of me, and didn't even ask much about my frequent visits. In front of me, she brooded. Her forehead wrinkled as she pouted cutely. And somehow, I was overwhelmed with surging emotions. Here was a woman I just met not too long ago, and her husband was a dead man walking.

"What-" I started, before coughing myself to calm down. "What exactly does your husband do?"

She snickered. "Do not tell me you don't know the profession of your wise mentor?"

I shook my head, trying to appear normal, and not outright interrogative. "It's just... I don't know him apart from him being the Second Head Professor. Is he... a noble? I cannot imagine for the life of me him being a commoner. Does he have other businesses? Does he have outright connections with, with the royal fa-"

"Woah now, little lass," the nurse said with hints of laughter. "Do you not know that curiosity killed the cat?"

I flinched at the dire verb, but retorted on, "Yet, students can't ever know too much about their teachers, yes?"

She looked at me for a short moment before finally relenting. "Fine. I will tell you, but mind you that this information isn't really all that important for you to know. And although none of these are secrets, I would prefer it if the rest of your merry classmates not know of it either."

I nodded my head, the brown curls bobbing up and down. Inwardly, I thought that I ought to cut it again...

"James... Well, your Professor Whitaker is indeed a member of nobility in the ranks of the Mond Empire," she told me. Then, she smiled mischievously. "But I will have you know that I am a noble myself."

My eyes went wide, although I knew deep down that it must be so. "... Also from the Empire, Nurse Melinda?"

She denied with a low sound. "I come from the same kingdom you came from, dear."

"Ah," I uttered. "How fascinating that your houses would allow such a union."

She scoffed. "Hardly. My father was completely furious when he finally knew of it."

I looked at her in disbelief. "Y-You didn't tell him about it?"

She laughed. "Ah, fair memories that... I knew that he would never approve, but I loved James too much to simply follow my father's wishes. So, I lied. We got married in a tiny town's chapel at the borders of the central plains and the Kingdom, bribed our way through the official documents and vows. Our ceremony was as simple as a commoner's, but in the eyes of the Gods and the court, James and I were officially wed, and our parents couldn't do anything much about it."

She coughed shyly and then took the glass of water by her desk, sipping just enough to wet her lips. Then, she continued, "But I wasn't as hurt by it as much as James was. Oh, no, we were both happy to be married, but it doesn't mean that our union would suddenly turn frowns upside down. Although I did say I come from nobility, James' family is much older and much more powerful than mine. And with him being the sole heir, let us just say that they weren't too happy with him."

"Did... Did he lose the right to inherit?" I whispered.

"Oh, dear no," she said. "But he very nearly did. He did everything to keep the other nobles happy, even becoming a professor for the Academy, which isn't the most sought for profession for high nobility, mind you, but the prestige is hard-earned regardless."

"What... What house does he-?" I started but was cut off by the tolling of the bells.

"How time passes by whilst chatting about rebellious times," the nurse remarked and had me up from my seat. "Come now, you don't want to be late for class, don't you?"

"No," I murmured. "I don't."

~~

The moment classes ended and the time for dinner came, I headed for a familiar face, distinct in the sea of youngsters gathered around the food hall.

"Jessica, we need to talk," I told her.

Zepherin looked up at me with a sly smirk, her purple eyes glistening. We were close in age, but somehow she made that simple expression look coquettish. Her dyed black hair made her look much older, and the sight of her being so elegant, a clear contrast from her usual chatty self, made even me doubt whether it was really the Zepherin I knew. Around the table, her flock of friends stared vividly with interest.

"You seem quite impatient, Eleftherion," she remarked slowly. "Although I don't dislike that trait of yours."

I forced a smile on my face, my facial muscles taut. "Shall I lead you to somewhere much more quiet?"

She smiled up at me fondly, and held out a gloved hand towards me. I took it with reluctant grace. She said, "Lead the way."

I ignored the sharp gazes from the boys and the livid stares from the girls and brought us out of the hall. Zepherin was silent the whole way, and when we had made it to the edge of the forest, I finally stopped our leisurely-paced walk.

"Zeph-" I started.

"Call me Jessica, please, Eleftherion," she cut me off with a pleasant smile, her hand still on top of my arm.

"Yes," I murmured. "Jessica. I have to know-"

"Well, before all that, I will also have you know that I'm not all too pleased by your behavior."

"What?" I spluttered.

She finally broke off from her smile and glared at me. "Suddenly calling out to me, in public, no less?"

"It was safe," I defended. "Besides, don't you know there have already been rumors surrounding the both of us, ever since our first day here?"

"Rumors," she said, "that were already slowly dying off, and would have surely have been forgotten, if only you hadn't done what you had today."

I pursed my lips in silence and looked down in embarrassment. "... Apologies. I didn't think that far ahead."

"You certainly didn't," she murmured, taking her hand off my arm and crossing it against her chest. "So? Why have you called me?"

"... I wanted to know more about your mission."

She raised an eyebrow, her face already gradually returning to its haughty expression. "You want to know more about a mission you gladly didn't take a part of?"

"... Yes," I answered. "I know it's unfair-"

"Quite so."

"And also uncalled for-"

"If you know, then-"

"But I still have to ask you anyway," I told her firmly. "I-I have some suspicions about the contents of this mission, and I don't know if it should be done at all."

"... And you say this because?"

"Because I'm worried about you," I said as honestly as I could. "And I'm also worried whether or not the... the organization is really making the right calls."

She was first unresponsive, only glaring at her shoes, but then she finally began to say, "Look, Eleftheria. You know this is my first mission-"

"That's why I'm telling you all this!" I complained.

"But this time, it's not so easy," she said. "I would have nodded my head to your words if it were a normal mission, but it isn't. It doesn't even matter where you somehow got this information from... This mission was given by the Master himself, and he rarely ever does that. In the few times he does give out orders, the continent is often shaken to its core. The gravity of this mission... isn't something to be tread upon by a young girl's suspicions. I'm sorry, Eleftheria."

I glared at her. "Then at least tell me this. Who is the target?"

She glared back at me. "Only assassins of the Order can know this information."

"... Then how come the Assassin Vincentus is here? And Leila?"

"I can't tell you that, either," she replied.

I huffed loudly in frustration. "Then at least tell me why! Why does Professor Whitaker have to die?!"

"How did you-?" she uttered in surprise, and I had my answer.

For a moment, I could only hear the rustling of the pink-tinged leaves of the trees around us. The world was peaceful, and my heart was anything but.

"So it is him..." I murmured, my whole body growing tired.

Zepherin realized too late. Perhaps, she couldn't handle being tricked by me, and the air around her grew dark. Without warning, she began to come at me with great speed, and I would have been hit by her hand if she hadn't chosen to stop it. She glared at me with a fierceness I rarely did see. "I don't hate you, Eleftheria, but if you mess with me again, if you interfere in my mission... I really will hate you."

My breath was ragged and my heart rapid.

Oftentimes, I see Zepherin as a dear friend. But right now, she was only an assassin.

Even when I had told her that I wouldn't interfere... Even when she had withdrawn from her attack... Even when her smile came back on her face... I was still wary.

I came to this Academy partly because of Zepherin, and I knew she would always be a friend I could trust.

However, with things as they were right now, I didn't have a clue about what might happen to us anymore.